While recording the album Lil Nas X deliberately avoided producing an album full of country rap songs, not wanting to be pigeonholed by the success of "Old Town Road". Despite this he would include one other country song "Rodeo" only after producers Take a Daytrip earned his trust by giving him the beat for "Panini". Several trap beats were also sent to the singer for consideration, which he rejected as he did not want to be a "trap artist". While in the process of recording the songs Lil Nas X posted previews of both "Panini" and "Rodeo" to his social media accounts before either song were completely written. This caused some problems for producers Take a Daytrip as the popularity of these snippets meant that much of the work had to be "locked in" so the resulting songs would match the previews. Lil Nas X announced the 7 EP on May 18, 2019, on all social media platforms along with its June 2019release date. This teaser included the snippet of a song described by Spins Rob Arcand as "singing a trap-pop hook through a slurred AutoTune drawl". Lil Nas X stated that the EP would include a collaboration with "one of favorite artists ever".
Singles
"Old Town Road" was released as the lead single from the EP on December 3, 2018, peaking at the top of the US Billboard Hot 100. A remix featuring Billy Ray Cyrus was released on April 5, 2019, as a remix single, and succeeded the original version on the chart, spending a record 19 weeks altogether at the top. "Panini" was released as the third single from the EP on June 20, 2019, and would peak at number five on the Hot 100. "Rodeo" with Cardi B was an album song until a remix with Nas was released on January 27, 2020, making it the fourth official single from the EP.
Critical reception
7 received mixed reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, 7 received an average score of 57, based on 11 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Mikael Wood at the Los Angeles Times considered it among the best debut efforts of the year, calling the songs on 7 "vivid, funny, full of feeling and supremely catchy, even if they don't quite offer a clear picture of who Lil Nas X is offstage or off-screen." Brittany Spanos, writing for Rolling Stone praised the EP's "carefully balanced earnestness and playfulness," but agreed with Wood: "Still, it leaves more questions than answers about what and who Lil Nas X wants to be." In a mixed review, Garrett Gravley at Consequence of Sound described the EP as a "musical Chex Mix — lightweight and best consumed in selective increments, but also strangely addictive." Other reviews were more negative. Brian Josephs at Entertainment Weekly criticized its "failed versatility", summarizing by saying, "With 7, there's too little conviction to tell if a full project is something Lil Nas X wants to do. At best, there's a set of half-considered songs." Alphonse Pierre gave it a poor review for Pitchfork, commenting, "For the entirety of 7, it's unclear if Lil Nas X actually likes music The EP ends up being a set of nothingness content made for the sake of justifying its existence."
Accolades
Commercial performance
7 debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 with 77,000 album-equivalent units. In its second week the EP remained at number two on Billboard 200 with 62,800 units.
